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(Wester lands- City of Relanter)

(The Silver Jack\'s Inn)

Elisa waited patiently as the sound of Claire\'s footsteps got quieter and quieter.

The former saintess had immediately collapsed on the bed just a few minutes ago and began to cough up blood.

Her frail body trembled as she let out a series of violent coughs that shook her already thin frame.

Claire upon seeing Elisa\'s current state was beside herself with worry. Elisa comforted the concerned paladin and explained that she needed some herbs to recover.

She wrote down a list of herbs on a piece of parchment paper and then sent Claire out to buy them before the store closed.

Elisa hated having to lie about her health, but it was the only way to get her devoted guardian knight to leave the room.

The apothecary was around a fifteen-minute walk away from their inn which meant that she had roughly half an hour to deal with the matters at hand.

The former saintess waited for a few more minutes until she was sure that Claire had left the inn and then stopped coughing.

Elisa sat up on the bed and directed her gaze towards the cloaked figure hiding in the rafters.

Her eyes briefly flashed red and her usually fair skin shifted to a light brown colour.

"What are you doing here?" Elisa coldly questioned. The mysterious figure dropped to the floor and pulled back her hood to reveal the face of a dark elf.

"Princess… I…. arghh," the voice was suddenly cut off as a shadowy tendril erupted from Elisa\'s fingertips and wrapped around her neck.

The dark elf struggled to breathe as Elisa\'s lips gently curved upwards to form a sweet smile.

She walked towards the dark elf with slow purposeful steps.

A heavy chill descended on the room as the shadows beneath the former saintess\' feet wriggled and squirmed as if they were alive.

Elisa stared at the dark elf for a moment before leaning in closer and whispering in her ear,

"Did I not explain that under no circumstances are you to approach me without my signal?"

"I have spent years infiltrating human society and one slip up will result in my death and the end of any hope for the revival of our race."

"Did you forget that there is a holy knight constantly monitoring my movements? What would have happened if she saw you?"

"I\'ll tell you what would have happened… you would have died. You may think I am cruel, but I do not want more blood of my people to spill."

Elisa withdrew her corrupted magic and the dark elf collapsed on the ground while clutching at her throat.

This would be a lesson that she would never forget.

Elisa had no use for subordinates incapable of following her orders.

No one knew better than the princess of the dark elf tribe about the current balance of power on the continent.

Parents may try to frighten their children at bedtime with stories of the monstrous foreign races that roamed the outer regions.

In those stories humanity would need to band together behind a mighty hero to push back the forces of darkness.

Silly stories of course.

Humanity no longer needed a hero to crush the remaining forces of the foreign races.

Truthfully… the strength of the foreign races was insignificant, they were a mere shadow compared to their former glory.

The dark elves were once the mightiest mages capable of destroying entire armies with one spell but now…

Their ancient magic had been stolen and they were forced to send their princess undercover to rescue their captured people.

Their only hope now was the prophecy that the princess of the dark elf tribe would bring about the end of humanity.

But could the soothsayer be trusted?

Was her ability as great as she claimed?

It was foolish to assume that the future was set in stone as evidenced by the fact that Elisa had been exiled rather than be allowed to remain in the capitol.

The former saintess pushed those negative thoughts to the back of her mind.

If she allowed the reality of the situation to set in, then she would not have the courage to continue on her path.

She needed a distraction. Elisa turned her attention back to the kneeling dark elf who had finally managed to catch her breath.

"Tell me your name and your purpose," Elisa whispered hoarsely.

"Princess, my name is Rhakul Caldoh and I bring you terrible news!" the dark elf replied quickly.

"The lord of this city has recently bought a batch of slaves from the merchant guild. Apparently, these slaves were captured from one of our villages in the outer regions."

"Lord Cain is a beast! I… I managed to interrogate one of the knights who worked for him in the past and he confessed that none of the lord\'s slaves lasted for more than a year."

"The things he would do to them…"

Rhakul\'s body trembled with rage and helplessness as she spoke. If the information she received was correct, then most of the prisoners were going to be killed.

The remaining dark elves were going to be kept as pleasure slaves to be humiliated and abused for the rest of their short lives.

Lord Cain was a man known for his sadistic hobby of torture.

Those who fell into his hands were better off committing suicide than staying alive to endure the torments that he could inflict.

Elisa tightened her fingers into a fist as she listened to Rhakul\'s story.

There wasn\'t much time to save the captured dark elves but most of her subordinates were still in the capitol.

The only logical decision would be to abandon these elves but…

A white-hot rage bubbled in Elisa\'s chest as a dark memory from her past resurfaced in her mind.

No. Never again.

She was never again going to just watch as her people were tied up in chains and dragged away to a life of despair.

"How many dark elves are currently in the city?" Elisa questioned with a steely glint in her eyes.

"Four but if we wait for two days then I can get three more to join us," Rhakul hesitantly replied.

Only seven people at best.

Infiltrating the governor\'s mansion would be suicide with only those numbers.

Elisa tapped her fingers impatiently against the side of her leg as she gave the matter some more thought.

She needed to make a decision now since every second that she wasted was another moment that her people were in danger.

Claire\'s beautiful face flashed across her mind and Elisa suddenly realised that she had forgotten one important piece of information.

She was no longer alone!

A high-ranking priestess and a tier two paladin were both important figures in the church.

Although Elisa was no longer the saintess…

She was still the future head of a branch and that was a position that wielded a decent amount of authority.

Wait… that was it!

"Rhakul, do you know the Varion Church\'s policy on slaves?" Elisa softly chuckled as her crimson eyes darkened.

"No, my princess but according to our information several upper rank members of the church own slaves," Rhakul replied with an angry expression.

Elisa stretched out her palm and a beam of holy light emerged.

This light was soft and warm, but a thread of dark magic was mixed in with the holy energy.

"Of course, there are hypocrites in the church, but I am not talking about them. I\'m talking about the Varion Church\'s official stance," Elisa explained calmly.

"Slavery and imprisonment go directly against the teachings of the Lord of Light, so it has been declared as illegal on the continent and condemned by the church."

Rhakul slowly nodded her head as she listened to Elisa\'s words, but she could not understand where the princess was going with this.

"Now what do you think would happen if an official envoy from the church visited the governor\'s mansion and \'accidently\' discovered that he kept slaves?" Elisa spoke with a twisted smile.

"And not just regular slaves… dark elves. Perhaps he would be condemned as a traitor and suspected of collaborating with the foreign races."